Uncertainty ahead for new graduates

Friday

May 24, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 24, 2013 at 3:19 PM

Graduation season officially began here in Alamance County on Saturday when more than 10,000 people watched 1,182 freshly minted Elon University alums collect their diplomas and head off into what is commonly known as the real world.

Thatís right, time to get a job. Go to work. Get paid. Make mom and dad even more proud ó or at least relieved.

But according to recently conducted surveys, itís not that simple. Rasmussen polling, for example, finds that 45 percent of Americans believe finding a job will be very difficult for college graduates this year. Nearly 90 percent think it will be somewhat difficult.

Believe it or not, those numbers are an improvement over a year ago when 53 percent thought it would be very difficult to find work after leaving college.

And how did things turn out for the Class of 2012? Hmmm.

For high school graduates, whose time under caps and gowns is coming in a couple of weeks, the outlook is also decidedly mixed. Unemployment in North Carolina remains above the national average, even though itís now in the 8 percent range. According to Rasmussen, only 21 percent of those polled believe high school graduates have the skills needed to enter the work force. Yet, college is no guarantee of success either.

Some other numbers to ponder:

‚Ė™ Younger people are much more optimistic than their moms and dads. Those ages 18 to 39 are less likely than their elders to describe the job path for recent graduates as very difficult.

‚Ė™ Twenty-four percent of all Americans have someone in their family who is graduating from high school or college this spring, showing no change from past years.

‚Ė™ Fifty-nine percent believe the primary purpose for attending college is to learn the skills needed to get a better job. Not sure some higher education programs see it that way.

‚Ė™ People emerging from colleges view the glass as half full ¬ó and then some ¬ó despite evidence to the contrary. A poll conducted by Accenture found that only 15 percent of the respondents expect to earn less than $25,000 a year, but 32 percent of grads from the previous two years are earning those salaries.

‚Ė™ Nearly two-thirds expect to find jobs in their field of study. Only half of recent college grads have succeeded in doing this, Accenture reports.

‚Ė™ Among people who graduated in 2011 and 2012, 41 percent are currently underemployed or working in jobs that do not require a college degree.

According to MoneyWatch, there is a definite gap between what potential employers are looking for and what new grads are expecting to find in the workplace. Employers want new hires to come in fully prepared for the job at hand with limited formal training. New grads, on the other hand, expect thorough training, strong starting pay and exceptional benefits.

As a result, employers believe college graduates are unprepared for the available jobs. College grads, on the other hand, believe themselves overqualified for whatís being offered.

Itís a classic conundrum.

Our advice to new graduates from universities, colleges or high schools would be the following: The way to attract the attention of employers is to make yourself invaluable. Understand the job thoroughly, do research and sell employers on the idea that there is but one worthy candidate. Expect nothing and deliver mightily on everything promised.

Thatís not guaranteed to get job applicants ahead. But it certainly canít hurt.